Bradley Beal Addresses Left Wrist Injury

The Washington Post—October 14, 2014

The play appeared ordinary: Charlotte Hornets rookie P.J. Hairston committed a routine foul on Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal, tripping him up. Beal impulsively extended his left wrist to break his fall, an instinctual decision made dozens of times over the course of a season. But this time was different. When Beal landed on the hardwood at a half-empty Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena last Friday night he felt a pop in his left wrist. He heard it, too.

"I definitely knew it was going to be something bad," Beal recalled.

It is the last game action Beal will see for at least six weeks. An MRI exam the next day revealed a non-displaced fracture of the scaphoid bone. By Sunday evening orthopedic surgeon Michelle Carlson had already performed surgery on the wrist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

"When I got the news it put me at ease rather than wondering what it really was," Beal said. "I couldn’t avoid surgery in no way, shape or form. And that went successfully so I can’t complain. It could’ve been a lot worse."